A/N: So here's chapter 9 finally. Sorry for the super long delay. Thanks as always to all those who take time to review. My thanks as well for all the faves and the alerts you guys have on this story. Rain1657, I think you'll like a certain part of this chapter ;-) Alice ….
Chapter 9: Born This Way
It was exactly where Rain remembered it and exactly how she remembered it.
Ducking into a crouch, she ran the last couple of yards across the open rocks. Beside the entrance hole was a low overhang partially obscured by dead vines and roots. Rain pushed the vegetation aside and slipped inside the refuge.
For the last few minutes she had been hearing the sound of a helicopter coming from the other side of the mountain. She had no doubt Umbrella was now on the hunt for her. She also had little doubt Umbrella's high tech tools would spot her easily if they managed to train their heat sensors the right way. So far they had managed to miss her as they circled back and forth from the mine entrance to the town.
When the helicopter receded again, Rain let out a breath. Her head was throbbing where she had been struck by the fence board. She poured cool water from her canteen onto a tattered bandana and pressed it to her temple. As she breathed slowly the pain eased.
After a few minutes relaxing Rain began to explore the crevice with her hands. She found the old rope ladder first and then the old rusty chain. Running her fingers along the links she smiled to herself. Her brother Perry had never expected her to make it to the mine let alone bring back a chain link as proof.
Underestimate me and see where it gets you…
A flat rock hid the mine shaft opening almost entirely. After a few more minutes of silence, Rain wiggled out of her hiding place dragging the rope and chain with her. Carefully she pulled back the rock until enough of the hole was exposed to allow her to slip in. A few feet from the opening an iron hook had been driven into the rock. This was where had they secured the rope ladder on her previous visits and Rain felt no need to do anything different. The hook still felt solid as she tied off the rope and dropped the coiled end into the hole. Hopefully the old rope would hold her weight.
Rain paused on the brink for a moment to check her gear. Her pockets bulged with two grenades each so she took out two and placed them in a crevice next to the hole. They might be very useful when, and if, she came back out this way. Taking a last look around at the late evening twilight, she lowered herself into the shaft.
The drop was nearly vertical and narrow. Rain moved her MP5 around to her chest and wiggled down the shaft bracing her feet on the rope ladder and her back to the rock behind her. After about 20 feet her boots brushed the bottom of the shaft. Crouching in the low crevice she let herself breath. The flat smell of damp rock was laced with a few other smells she didn't at first recognize. The first was an industrial smell like warm oil mixed with fresh lumber. The second made her stomach growl.
Food! This was the right place for sure.
Rain covered the beam of her flashlight with her hand as she flicked it on. Slowly opening her fingers she looked around. She should be on the flat spot in the tiny cave between two more tunnels one that angled down and away to the north and one that went steeply, though less narrowly down to the south. Her flashlight picked out only rocks where the northern tunnel should have been, but the southern shaft was open and out of it came a slight breeze.
Moving forward on her butt, Rain pointed her feet down the sloping tunnel and began a slow, careful descent. The shaft widened as it went deeper and just before it opened into the next natural cave, turned to the left. When she felt the opening with her toes, Rain paused and listened. There was no sound other than a soft dripping of water. Shifting her body she put her head through the opening. She could see nothing, just solid blackness met her eyes. Chancing her flashlight, Rain panned the beam around the cave. The floor below her glistened with pooled water she guessed to be about ankle deep. The recent heavy rain must have caused a partial flood.
As quietly as she could, Rain let her legs slide down from the shaft until she dropped into the water with a soft plop. Shuffling across the cave to the wall directly across from the shaft she had just come through, she reached out with her hands. There was a narrow crevice that led into one of the older abandoned shafts of the mine proper. The passage was so narrow that, as they grew older, her brothers had a hard time fitting through it to the point where Perry, the biggest of the three, eventually was left behind.
Rain sighed when her fingers found the opening. Rearranging her gear again, she took a step up and began to creep sideways through the narrow crack. There was a gentle upward slant to the crevice and she could feel water trickling over her boots. The air became fresher the farther along she went until after about 35 feet her right hand found open air. Sidestepping out of the crack Rain crouched.
For a time she was still listening to the soft movement of water and breathing in the various smells with her sensitive nose. She was facing what she remembered to be a long down sloping shaft; and it was up that shaft the slight breeze that was tickling her cheeks was coming from.
Taking her flashlight out again, she muted the beam and panned behind her. As she'd remembered, the mine shaft ended here-an unfinished spur that had been intended to eventually exit the mountain on the eastern face where she'd come in. There were narrow gauge rails below her and at her left elbow, an old cart sat half derailed waiting for a load of rock that would never come. What it had seen were fearless teenagers who would ride down the shaft like Indiana Jones stuntmen. It had been dangerous and fun. Grinning to herself, Rain touched her thigh where she still bore a scar from one of their derailments.
Flicking the flashlight to its red beam setting, Rain started down the mine shaft staying close to the left wall. Her footsteps were almost soundless even in the silence of the mine. After about 50 yards, she began to perceive a faint light in front of her. Rain clicked her flashlight off and proceeded cautiously letting her shoulder against the side wall guide her.
When she was about 10 yards away, she realized she was looking at light spilling into the shaft from an opening ahead. Drawing her .45, she moved closer and peaked around the corner.
A new shaft had been cut to the left to join the old shaft she was in. The light was from a string of bulbs hung from the ceiling that led back up the shaft. There was no one there and nothing moved. Rain proceeded in, the .45 leading the way.
To either side of the new shaft were piles of lumber, plywood, tools and electrical cables. This shaft was still under construction – recent construction – and saved Rain the bother of wandering around the old mine looking for a way into Umbrella's facility.
Lucky break number one…
The passage ended in a closed steel door. Rain pressed her ear to it and held her breath as she listened. Nothing; or maybe a faint sound of machinery - air conditioning maybe. Closing her hand around the cool steel of the door's handle, Rain pushed slowly down as she pulled the door back. With nary a squeak of protest the door opened easily.
Lucky break number two…
With the door open just enough to get her head through, Rain peeked around. What was on the other side of the door looked more like a sterile hospital hall or a lab corridor. This was Umbrella for sure.
She was looking out into the bright, white corridor from a sort of alcove. Slipping completely through the door, Rain closed it behind her before moving forward toward the hallway. The alcove where the door was set allowed her to peek out into the main passage without fully exposing herself.
The first thing she noticed when she looked to her right was a surveillance camera mounted high on the wall where it could oversee the junction of this corridor and another that intersected it at 90 degrees. Rain ducked back catching her breath before peering out more slowly. From the base of the camera a disconnected wire hung limply.
Lucky break number three…
Peeking out again Rain looked to her left. The corridor ended about 15 feet away in a wall of glass that stretched away to the right down another adjoining hall. Right at the end of the hall, up against the glass was a small table. On top of the table was a yellow hardhat and several blueprint rolls.
Moving quickly out of the alcove Rain approached the table. As she got closer she realized what the glass enclosed was not a lab or office but a sort of huge tank. The liquid on the other side of the glass swirled darkly as Rain stared in fascination. With a quick look down at the table, she closed her hand around the roll of blueprints.
A sudden sharp movement in the liquid caused Rain to jump back in surprise. Something black brushed the glass slimy and smooth. As Rain backed up the water frothed and whatever it was pressed against the glass.
Bile rose in Rain's throat as a pair of red, bulbous eyes looked out at her framed by two hands – paws? Flippers? – with what looked like sucker pads on the ends of its ugly fingers.
Ducking back into the alcove, Rain held the rolled plans against her chest and tried to calm her heartbeat.
Yet another Umbrella mutant lurked behind the glass wall of the tank she had no doubt. The thought just made her even more determined to rescue Alice and put a stop to Umbrella.
Unrolling the building plan Rain quickly oriented herself. The corridor in front of her lead to what Umbrella was calling "Experimentation Tank 1". The door behind her was meant to connect to what was marked as "Proposed Experimentation Tank 2".
Fuckers, Rain thought of the grenades she had left behind. Maybe a small nuke would be better…
The complex built into the old gold mine was made up of three levels Rain determined as she perused the building plans. The top level, one above where she was now, seemed to be made up of offices and living quarters. The middle level appeared to be more offices, labs and 'experimentation' areas.
Yuck…
Rain scanned the last sheet and put her finger on an area called 'Human Lab' located on the far west end of the lowest level near the main entrance to the complex. That had to be where they were keeping Alice. The Human Lab was one level down and all the way on the other side of the old mine.
In the middle of the complex was a central stairwell. On the center level, just opposite the stairway, was a room indicated as Central Security. From where she was now, there was no way down to the lower level without passing security.
Discarding the plan for the upper level, Rain folded the other two and jammed them inside her shirt. Taking a deep breath and holding her .45 firmly in her right hand, Rain stepped out into the corridor and started towards the main part of the complex away from the glass wall. She knew she would have to have faith that any other security cameras would be in a similar condition to the one just in front of her.
At the apex of the connecting hall and the two more that she encountered, Rain paused and checked for movement or sound. There was nothing until she reached the cross corridor just before the security office.
Rain slipped across the junction and pressed herself against the wall. Lowering herself down almost to the floor, she peered down the hall. About 10 yards away, right about where she assumed the security station was, a man moved into the hall.
"…heard that too," he was saying to someone out of sight. "They radioed in there was two."
A voice Rain couldn't make out said something that ended in the lilt of a question.
"That's what they're thinking since it will take some time to go through all the wreckage."
Talking about me are you? Don't know if I'm alive or dead? Not the first time that's happened.
"C'mon, the hell with that. Half the shit around here doesn't work anyway. Let's get some chow."
As Rain watched, a second man joined the first in the corridor where together they crossed to the stairs and headed up. Sensing her chance, Rain slipped out into the corridor and moved along at a crouch down the left hand wall. An open door and a bank of windows indicated she had found the security station. Peeking into the window Rain tried to take in the security monitors as quickly as she could. The task was not so hard considering the number working and showing an image, was far outnumbered by the ones showing a blank screen.
There was a view of a large open chamber with various vehicles that was most likely the main entrance, a view of a corridor with a few people moving around wearing lab coats, and a last view that caught and held her attention. On one of the larger monitors was a view of what looked to Rain like a hospital ward.
The lighting was dim in the large room. No one moved although Rain could see someone sitting at a desk in front of the one occupied bed. The room seemed half finished. To the left was a large wooden crate and equipment seemed to be placed haphazardly. Rain concentrated her full attention on the bed and was able to make out a spill of dark blond hair across the pillow and large feet sticking out the end of the sheet.
Alice! I'm gonna get those motherfuckers! I'm gonna kill every last one of them! I'm gonna… OK stop talking about it and let's get doing it.
Still in a half crouch Rain scampered across to the stairs and headed down. At the bottom of the steps she snuck a look around the stair rail and out into the corridor. Nothing moved to the left but down the hall to the right where she expected the lab holding Alice was located, a woman in a white lab coat moved away from her at an unhurried pace.
Without thinking much about it, Rain moved out into the corridor. Staying against the left wall again she moved as fast as she could after the woman in the distance. Rain was only four or five paces behind her when the woman turned into a connecting corridor to the left. Directly in front of both of them was a bank of windows that stretched down the main corridor and made a 90 degree turn into the left hallway.
Inside the large room beyond the windows was the hospital room Rain had seen on the monitors. Rain paused at the junction behind the woman who was pulling an ID card from her waist. She extended the card and waved it in front of a security pad to the right of a door that led into the big room. The light on the pad flashed green and the door began to slide aside.
Holding her breath Rain moved quietly forward. The woman proceeded through the door without a backward glance, Rain only steps behind her. Across the room, the woman who was sitting at the desk in front of Alice's bed began to turn her head at the sound of the door opening. Rain made a quick move to her left and crouched behind a cart of equipment. When the two women began to speak in low tones, Rain moved closer until she was next to the crate she had seen on the monitor. She was about 20 feet from Alice's hospital bed and just a little farther from the nurse's desk.
Shift change, Rain was able to determine when the woman at the desk, stood, stretched, and smiled at the woman relieving her before exiting through another door on the far side of Alice's bed.
Taking a minute to gaze around, Rain located the security camera that had been displaying an image on the monitor in the security office. It was nearly opposite her in the center of the room and just far enough back that if someone were monitoring right at this moment they might be able to see her crouching by the crate. Backing up slowly, she moved to the back of the crate and smiled to herself when she saw it was open. As quietly as she could she slipped inside. There was just enough room for her to sit without having her head hit the enclosed top. Spotting a knot hole at about eye level, Rain shifted until she could see both the nurse's station and Alice's bed.
So far so good, now I wait for the right moment, sneak out, disable the camera, get Alice and get out of here. No problem, too easy…
The get out of here part was the complete unknown and Rain tried hard not to dwell on it. She concentrated instead on the part that she did know and could control – how easy it would be to slip across the room, bump aside the security camera and grab the nurse from behind in a choke hold. Once she was unconscious, all that was left was to grab Alice and get her up.
The impatient part of her had an intense urge to get this plan under way right now. The logical part of her knew the longer she waited the more likely the lack of activity and the dim lighting would start to affect the woman at the desk and hopefully cause her to become drowsy. She would be far easier to take out then and far less likely to raise an alarm.
Rain settled more comfortably resting her back against the side of the crate. Her mind began to wander and she had a strange thought of how funny it would have been if she and Tory and Perry had found the Umbrella complex years ago when exploring the old mine.
Perry would make a good Umbrella experiment. Maybe one of those red-eyed things in that tank...
Thinking of Perry brought her mind to the last time she had seen him and it wasn't such a great memory. She had been home on a short leave from training with the special ops group at Umbrella.
Rain scooted closer to the 50'" flat screen TV in her parents' basement her hands unconsciously clutching her beer bottle tighter.
"Oh, yeah! Oh, yeah!" Tory was practically bouncing on the couch beside her his enthusiasm far more evident.
"…and in tonight's co-main event…"
Out of the corner of her eye Rain spotted Perry appear at the bottom of the stairs to the basement rec room. She ignored him concentrating on the TV.
"What's on?" Perry demanded as he moved toward his siblings and Rain could tell from the slight slur of his words that he had been drinking.
"Fighting, man. Shut the hell up!" Tory answered barely sparing a glance at Perry.
Rain sucked in a breath as her favourite fighter (and Tory's too since they continued to tussle over in who's room Gina's poster should hang) trotted out looking loose and ready to go.
Gawd, she looks hot in her cornrows! Rain's mind fuzzed over for a moment.
"That's that hottie you two are so into, isn't it?" Perry asked moving closer to the TV. "If there were more hot chicks like her fighting I'd watch more often," Perry leered at the TV.
Rain and Tory pointedly ignored him Rain moving slightly to see around Perry's bulk.
"…and fighting out of the blue corner and weighing in at one hundred forty five…"
Perry stopped the uncoordinated shadow boxing he had been doing behind the couch to stare at the TV again.
"She's fighting a man?"
"She's not a man you dim wit…" Rain tried to correct him but Perry ignored her moving close to the TV again.
"Well she's some damn ugly chick then! No wonder no one watches the girls' fighting…"
Tory threw a handful of popcorn at his brother. "Shut the fuck up, Perry! You're just a dumb ass and no one cares what you think! Move it!"
Rain stood up to see around Perry as on the screen the ref was giving last minute instructions to the two fighters.
"Do you think they're both dykes? I think they are," Perry shifted back and forth in front of the TV, "'cause only lesbians fight, right?"
Rain felt her blood begin to boil at Perry's antics yet she held her temper, at least for now.
Perry was leering at the TV again. "This sport really needs more pretty girls for sure."
"Fuck off, Pussy," Rain and Tory said together using the nickname they reserved for when Perry was at his most annoying.
On the TV the shot moved in close on the fighters as they stood in the center of the cage.
"…touch gloves if you want to and…" the ref's voice was saying.
"She's not so hot but I'd still totally f…"
DING
As the bell sounded to start round one Rain launched herself off the couch at her brother Perry. She grabbed him in a tackle driving him away from the TV yet his bulky build kept her from taking him down. Her mind on automatic she caught his right arm tight and with a lightning fast move flipped herself over onto her back with a thump that nearly knocked the TV off its stand.
"Flying armbar, flying armbar!" Tory stood beer bottle in one hand popcorn in the other his eyes no longer on the TV. "Tap out Perry, man! She'll bust yer arm!"
Still on overdrive and full of intense irritation at Perry, Rain continued to wrench her brother's forearm until she felt a grinding then a pop. Perry made a squeak of pain rolling away as Rain stood up and calmly resumed her seat on the couch.
Tory looked from the TV to Rain to Perry.
"Mom! Perry needs to go to the hospital! Can you take him? We don't want to miss the fight!"
Sighing, Rain ran her hand over her hair and pulled at her ponytail. Her father had had a few strong words to say to her the next day about patience and use of force on someone not as skilled as she was. Rain had left without speaking to Perry. By that time her feelings had gone from irritation at her brother to irritation at herself for going too far.
He's still a jerk for saying what he did about women MMA fighters …
A fair bit of time had passed since she had hidden in the crate. Looking out the knot hole she noticed Alice moving slightly in her bed. Rain watched as the nurse got up to check Alice's IV and her vitals.
Patience, Rain, patience, she heard her father's voice telling her. Shifting just a bit so she could see out the knot hole and still relax, Rain closed her eyes.
Images floated in her mind of a crowd cheering as she entered the cage, mouth guard in place and smacking her gloves, to the sneer of her opponent.
Time passed and Rain dozed the last thing on her mind her mother's words: "You are a passionate, strong girl. Right now all you feel is the passion not the strength. But God grant you grace, you will soon know your own strength."
Later
Rain woke with a sudden jolt unable to place where she was. As her mind slowly chugged through all the possibilities she finally arrived at Umbrella facility, wooden crate.
She peered out the knot hole. The nurse was leaning over Alice's bed again. As Rain watched, the woman finished what she was doing, returned to her desk, picked up a coffee mug and exited out the door past Alice's bed.
Rain froze in astonishment. A couple beats went by before she bounded into action. Leaving the crate, she pulled a multi-tool from her vest and moved toward the security camera. Using a chair she was able to reach up from behind it and snip the wire. Maybe they would investigate, maybe not.
Approaching Alice's bed, Rain began whispering her name over and over. Alice's eyes were fluttering when Rain got close.
"Rain?"
"Yeah, it's me. Can you get up? We gotta get outta here fast."
Rain pulled a clearly groggy Alice to a sitting position then turned her so that her legs hung over the side of the bed. Alice's head bobbed. Rain seized the IV line running into Alice's arm and yanked it out.
Alice's eyes fell open in surprise and pain.
"That's better," Rain told her smiling. "Can you stand?"
Alice slipped off the bed and stood unsteadily on her bare feet. She held the sheet around her naked body.
"Girl, I've seen your goods," Rain still reached behind and grabbed at some hospital scrubs in a laundry basket. She helped Alice pull on the shirt and pants and was moving to drape Alice's arm over her shoulder when she heard voices and the door in front of her slid open.
"Well, we were wondering where you were," a cold male voice said, "funny to find you here."
Rain pivoted and met the man's icy eyes.
"I'm Doctor Issacs. You probably don't remember me. We're not as good friends as Alice and I have become." His condescending gaze played over Alice where she stood wobbling beside Rain.
"Yeah, whatever, fucktard, we're leaving," Rain pulled her .45 and aimed it at the doctor ignoring the nurse who stood beside him.
"Come to save your lover, have you?" Issacs raised his eyebrows at Rain's incredulous look. "I told you Alice and I are good friends and she's been confiding a lot in me."
Rain tensed her jaw really not liking the man in front of her.
Alice chose – unfortunately – that moment to faint dead away and flop at Dr Issacs feet. Reaching down, he grabbed her around the neck and yanked her to her feet holding her between himself and Rain. From a stainless steel tray to his right he snapped up a scalpel and held it to Alice's neck.
Rain huffed tightening her grip on her .45 as blood trickled from Alice's neck at the touch of the knife.
"Take the gun from her, "Issacs ordered the nurse gruffly.
"No way, asshole," Rain snorted backing up a step.
"Then it seems we have a dilemma, don't we?" There was no mistaking his condescension.
Rain reached into a pocket of her vest with her left hand and slowly withdrew one of the grenades.
"Maybe not," Rain jutted her jaw. She held the grenade out next to her pistol.
The nurse gave a strangled noise and retreated rapidly through the door.
"Ah I see," Issacs pressed the scalpel harder into Alice's neck. Alice was trying to catch at his arm now fully awake. "Silly and stupid, you'd kill us all even your lover."
"Don't call me silly," Rain pulled the grenade pin with her teeth. "And you know what? I was born this way, what's it to you?"
Rain could see Alice smile slightly at her words.
"Just unnatural, is all," Issacs shrugged pulling Alice closer.
"And you'd know all about unnatural, that's for sure," Rain tightened her grip on the grenade. She need only open her hand and the handle would pop off and there would be no going back.
Dr Issacs gave Rain a hard smile. "You're not getting out of this, you know that. Now put the pin back in the grenade and put down your weapons like a good girl."
Rain snickered. "I've never been a good girl and I'd rather die right here with you than become one of your experiments." When she moved her eyes to Alice, Rain saw the other woman nod slightly.
Rain spit the pin onto the floor at Issacs' feet. Slowly she began to remove her fingers from around the grenade starting with her little finger.
"Maybe we'll die," Rain's pinky finger stood out straight her ring finger joining it, "maybe we won't. 'Cause you know what?" Her middle finger came off the grenade and she gripped it only with her thumb and index finger. "I have something you don't have and probably can't imagine… faith."
With a last wink at Alice, Rain dropped the grenade.
So… what happens next? Any guesses? Alice…..
